Seat upholstery for vehicles



F. W. HANNEMAN.

SEAT UPHOLSTERY FOR VEHICLES.

APPLICATION man 950.4. 1919.

' Patented Uct. W, W22,

Fatented Wet. W, lhfh.

W. Hhhlhl'mlllhlll, F FOhllllllhfl, MICHIGAN, MSSI Gl-NOF- 'llO GENERALmorons WWW.

PU u. a

men, or nn'ruorr, rrroniruau. a oonrona'rrou or nnnawann. I 7

enter 'UFHOLS'TERY FOR VEHJEGLEE.

application flied hecembertl, ram. lterlal Ito. ttattt.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, F RED W. HANNEMAN, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Pontiac, county of 'Oakland, and State of Michigan,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Seat Upholstery forVehicles, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exactdescription, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which tothe invention relates to make and use thesame, reference being madetherein to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of thisspecification. I

My invention relates to the bodies of auto: mobiles and similarvehicles, and articularly to the seat or seats thereof, an to theupholstery providedfor the seats.

The principal object of my invention is to provide improved upholsteryfor vehicle to seats in which the upholstery for the back and sideportions of the seat is carried upon a separate and distinct frame orframes which, with the upholstery in place thereupon, may be placedinproper relation to the seat and to various elements of the vehicle bodyand then secured in place, or as readil removed from the vehicle bodyshoul it become necessary to clean or repair the upholstery, or shouldit be deemed deao sirable to remove the same from the seat structure forany reason whatever.

A further object of my invention is to provide seat upholstery for motorand other t pes of vehicles in which the upholstery for at t e back andside portions of the seat may be installed upon frames of proper formwhich are entirel separate and distinct from the vehicle bo y and seatthereof, and which frame or frames with the upholstering thereto uponmay then be placed in proper position and secured in place relative tothe vehicle body to thereby provide baclr upholstery for the seat; theframe with its upholstering thus forming a unitary article or structureto which may be made outside the vehicle body and apart therefrom. I

My invention is illustrated in its preferred form in the drawingaccompanying and forming a part of this specification; alto though itwill be appreciated that various changes and'modifications may bemade inthe particular embodiment of my invention illustrated without departingfrom the spirit thereof, so long as such assumed changes had: of theseat is come within the scope of the concluding cla ms, wherein theparticular features in which my invention consists are pointed out atlength. x

Referring to the drawing: 7

Fig. 1 is a view showing a motor vehicle body in side elevation, and forthe most part in a conventional manner.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view showing a portion of the vehicle body, andof the seat supporting frame installed therein; and illustrating therelation of the frames which carry the seat upholstery. in which myinvention consistsrelative to the seat frame, and to certain portions ofthe vehicle body.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing the frame upon which the upholsteryfor the placed and whereby it is carried.

Fig. l is a fragmentary view showing the manner in which the backupholstery is secured to and carried by the frame shown in' Fig. 3, andthe manner in which the frame and back upholstery carried thereby is putin place and removed.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view. showing a slightly different arrangementof certain of the elements of my invention.

Referring now to the drawing, the body 5 of the vehicle may be of anyform, and may have any of the elements and features of construction atresent commonly used in motor vehicle bod' are upper rails 6 for theback seat and 7 for the front seat, as best shown in Figs. 2, l and 5.These rails extend transverse to the vehicle body and are located at theupper portion thereof and rails of the form illustrated or theequivalent thereof are commonly present in ordinary forms of vehiclebodies and constitute a portion of the framework covered by and to whichthe sheet metal cover 8 is secured; although such upper rails varysomewhat in form and in position, and as to their particular arran ementrelative thereto, in various specific orms of vehicle body.

The vehicle body 5 is also equipped with the usual seat cushionsupporting frame 9 variously constructed in difierent forms of body, andwith the particular form of which my invention is in no way concerned;while the reference numeral 10 designates bars extending between the toprails 6, 7 and the seat frame to thereby tie said elements to ms; amongwhich elements gether and contribute generall to the rigid ity of theframe of the ve 1cle body to which the sheet metal cover is commonlysecured. It will be appreciated that members such as are above referredto are commonly present in one form or another in the framework of motorvehicle bodles of common and conventional form and such as are atpresent in use; and that the arrangement of said elements or theirequivalents relative to one another and to the frame of the body willvary in different vehicle bodies within certain limits, and that theinventlon to which this present application relates is in no wayconcerned with the particular form and arrangement of the vehicle bodyelements and features above referred to.

The separate and independent framework or frame member to which theupholstery for the back of the seat is secured and whereby the saidupholster is earned 1s shown separate and by itsel in Fig. 3; the samecomprising a top rail 11 adapted, when the back upholstery is in-place,he above one of the transversely extending upper rails 6 or 7 accordingto which seat the back and provide the requisite form of seat in eachparticular instance.

The upholstery carrying frames which are at the two ends or sides of theseat are in all essential particulars identical with the frame at theback of the seat, although their form, curvature, and other subordinatefeatures will vary from that of the back frame and will in. each case besuch that the end frames will fit' properly within the body framemembers 14, 15 connected together by two bars 16, the ends of which aresecured to the said top and bottom rails; and in this connection it willbe appreciated that both the frames for the back u holstery as well asfor the side or seat en upholstery will have as many vertical extendingbars such as 13 or 16 as may be deemed neces sary orv desirable in eachparticular case.

The top rail 11 when a frame is in place within a motor vehicle bodyoverlies the upper rails 6, 7 and is supported by the rail of theparticular seat which a given frame ich when the back upholstery is inplace is designed for; and said upper rails are provided with stopmembers '17, as many as ma be deemed necessar or desirable in eacparticular case, the rec ends of which stop members extend above theupper edges of said upper rails and lie in front of the top rail 11 whenthe back frame with the upholstery thereupon is in place. These proectmgupper ends of the stops act to prevent forward movement of the top rail11 and of the frame of which they form a part, thus holding the backupholstery carried b said frame in proper position relative to tieremainlng portion of the seat. The upper ends of the vertical extendingbars 13 engage the front sides of the rails 6, 7 and thereby preventbackward movement of the ,upholstery supporting frame and the upholsterysupported thereby, as best shown in Figs. 4 and 5.

he vertically extendin bars 13 are preferably provided with res1 ientclips 19 substantially right-angular in form and the free ends of whichengage the under side of the top rails 6, 7 when the upholsterysupporting frame is in lace, to thereby more securely hold the rame andupholstery .carried thereby in position and prevent upward movementthereof. The frame and upholstery supported thereby may if desired bemore securely held in place by screws 20 at the lower end of the frameand which screws extend into the vertically extending bars 10 of theframe of the vehicle body above referred to. The screws need not,however, be used in all cases, as when the cushion 26 of the seat is inplace it will engage the lower portion of the back, and the lower endsof the side upholstery, and hold the entire back and end upholstery inplace relative to the framework of the vehicle whereby the frames whichcarry said upholstery are supported.

The above description has referred particularly to the structuralfeatures of the frame or frames whereby the back and side upholstery forthe seat 1s carried apart for the most part from the upholstery itself,although it will be appreclated that suitable upholstery is secured tothese frames in order to provide completely upholstered seat units.

Such upholstery, however, may be of any of the types or forms at presentin-use in the making of vehicle seats such, for example, as theupholstery shown in Fig. 4, which comprises a mattress 21 havingexternal and internal fabric coverings 22- and 23 and which mattressextends across and is supported by the free ends of coil springs 24carried by transversely extending bars 25 secured to the bars 13 of theu holstery supporting frame; the 'upper end of said mattress beingsecured to the top rail 11, the lower end thereof to the lower portionmatter of the frame or to the bottom rail 12 thereof, and the sideportion thereof to the two side ones of the vertically extending barsthe seat upholstery, and as readily removed fromthe body of the vehicleshould it become necessary or desirable to do so.

It will be appreciated from the foregoing that the upholstery for theback and sides 'or ends of a seat may be conveniently built up andinstalled upon one or more frames outside of and apart from the vehiclebody,

which frames may then be putin place in a' vehicle bod and properlysecured therein to provide t e back upholstery forthe seat. The numberof separate frames employed with each seat may obviously vary 1ndifferent types of vehicle bodies; and in some cases it may beunnecessary to make the upholstery for the side or ends of the seatremovable. These, however, are obvious variations ofmy invention and inno wayadect the essential features thereof which are particularlypointed out in the following claims. It will also be appreciated thatwhile I have illustrated my invention as applied to an automobile havingan open top body the same is e ually capable of use with closed bodies,an in fact with any kind or type of vehicle body having an upholsteredseat or seats.

Having thus described and explained my invention, I claim and desire tosecure b Letters Patent:

1. In vehicle seat upholstery of the class described and in combinationwith a vehicle body having a seat supporting frame, and an upper raillocated adjacent the upper end of the seat; an upholstery supportingframe having a top rail overlying said upper rail,

a bottom rail disposed adjacent said seat supporting frame, and aplurality of bars extending between and the ends of which are secured tosaid top and bottom rails;

a plurality of stop members carried by the upper rail aforesaid andprojecting above the upper edge thereof, and the-free ends of WlllCll'lie in front of the top rail of said frame; a plurality of resilientclips secured to said bars and the free ends of which lie beneath theupper rail aforesaid when said frame is in place; and suitableupholstery carried by said frame.

2. In vehicle seat upholstery of the class described and in combinationwith a vehicle body having a seat supporting frame, and an upper raillocated adjacent the upper end of the seat; an u holstery supportingframe I having a top rai overlying said upper rail,

jet

aforesaid when the frame is in place; and

suitable upholstery carried by said frame.

3. ln vehicle seat upholstery of the class described and in combinationwith a vehicle body having a seat supporting frame, and an upperrail-located adjacent the upper end of theseat; an upholstery supportingframe havlng'a top rail overlying said upper rail, a bottom raildisposed adjacent said seat supporting frame, and a plurality of barsextending between and the ends of which are secured to said top andbottom rails; a

plurality of-stop members carried by the upper rail aforesaid andprojecting above the upper edge thereof, and the freeends of which liein front of the top rail of said frame; and suitable upholstery carriedby said frame. Y

l. lln vehicle seat upholstery of the class described and in combinationwith a vehicle body having a' seat supporting frame, and an upper raillocated adjacent the upper end of the seat; an upholstery supportingframe having a top rail overlying said upper rail, and a plurality ofbars extending downwardly from said top rail and terminating adjacentsaid seat supporting frame; a plurality of stop members carried bytheupper rail aforesaid and projecting above the u per edge thereof, andthe free ends of w ich lie in front of the top rail of said frame; andsuitable upholstery carried by said frame.

5. ln vehicle seat upholstery of the class described, a vehicle body; anupper rail located adjacent the upper end of said body; an upholsterysupporting frame having a top rail supported upon said upper rail, and aplurality of bars extending downward from said top rail; a plurality ofprojections carried by said upper rail and adapted to engage the frontside of the top rail of said frame to thereby prevent movement of saidtop rail relative to said upper rail; and suitable upholstery carried bysaid frame.

llllh 6. In vehicle seat upholstery of the class I described, anupholstery supporting frame comprising a bottom rail; a plurality ofvertically extending bars the lower ends of which are secured to saidbottom rail; 2. top rail towhich the upper ends of said bars aresecured, and which top rail is lo- 'cated to one side of the plane-0fsaid bars; and a plurality of resilient clips secured to said bars andlocated adjacent the upper ends thereof, and the free ends of. whichclips are located beneath said top rail.

7. In vehicle seat upholstery of the class described, an upholsterysupporting frame holstery supporting frame the lower end of which restsupon and is supported by a lower portion of said frame structure; andmeans including a resilient clamping member located adjacent the upperend of said upholstery supporting frame and engaging the upper portionof said frame structure to thereby hold the said upholstery supportingframe in place.

9. In vehicle seat upholstery of the class described, a vehicle body anupper rail located adjacent the upper end of said body; an upholstery suporting frame having a top rail supporte upon said upper rail, and aplurality of bars extending downward from said top rail; means carriedby said upper rail for preventing forward movement of said top rail;means carried by said frame and engaging said upper rail for preventingvertical movement of said top rail and frame; and suitable upholsterycarried by said frame.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

FRED W. HANNEMAN.

